On this avenue a popular
Will pass
Each parallelepiped
Of this city
Will get a shiver
Tonight
When they remember
That here immortal sambas have already passed
That here they bled from our feet
That here is the place where our ancestors did samba
In a moment
An unhappy page of our history
A passage that is faded in the memory
Of the new generations
Our homeland slept
So distracted
Without noticing that it was being subtracted
In sinister transactions
Her children
Were mistaken blindly around the continent
They were stoned like penitents
Building strange cathedrals
And someday, at last
They were allowed a fleeting joy
A breathless epidemic
That was called carnaval
Carnaval, carnaval
(Will pass)
Applause the wing of the famished barons
The number of the coloured Napoleons
And the small people of the boulevard
My God, come look
Come look closely a city singing
The evolution of freedom
Until the day gets clear
Oh, such a good life, olerê
Oh, such a good life, olará
The flag of the sanatorium
It will pass
Oh, such a good life, olerê
Oh, such a good life, olará
The flag of the sanatorium
It will pass